Tag: remi montrechere

When the Anchorage Igloos hosted the Kansas City Smoke on Friday, they were hoping for an easy win over a team on an eight-game winless streak, which would allow them to solidify their second-place standing in the West. While the Igloos did ultimately prevail over the Smoke, it was anything but easy. Twice, Anchorage had to rally from three-goal deficits, and needed overtime before they escaped with a wild 8-7 victory.

“Man, that was a battle we weren’t expecting!” exclaimed C Jake Frost after the game. “We showed a lot of fight, a lot of heart, but boy, KC put a scare into us.”

The Smoke showed up ready to play. It only took 15 seconds for LW Louis LaPlante to get on the board with his first goal of the season, a slapper past Igloos netminder Wendall Cantillon. Frost evened things up two minutes later with a shot from the right faceoff circle, but rookie C Noel Picard put the Smoke back ahead just over a minute later with a tip-in from the slot. Midway through the first, Kansas City struck twice to take a 4-1 lead, leaving the crowd at Arctic Circle Arena in an uneasy silence.

Igloos coach Sam Castor considered lifting Cantillon at that point. But given that it was the backup’s first action all week, the coach stayed with his goalie. “Wendall’s got to have a chance to deal with adversity,” said Castor. “I wanted to see how he’d react, and how the team would react.”

Anchorage rallied to Cantillon’s rescue, with RW Remi Montrechere and D “Chilly Willy” Calligan scoring to pull within one by the end of the period. Four minutes into the second period, Montrechere struck again to tie it up and bring the crowd to its feet.

“We felt like the mommentum was going our way,” said Montrechere. “We were in control and ready to pull away.”

As it turned out, the momentum was about to shift back to the visitors. Three minutes after Montechere’s tally, Smoke LW Piotr Soforenko deflected a shot past Cantillon to retake the lead. C Phil Miller went top-shelf to make it a 6-4 game at the end of the second period.

47 seconds into the third period, Kansas City D Tony Hunt notched a power-play tally to give the Smoke another three-goal lead and putting the Igloos behind the eight ball.

“We needed a jolt, and fast,” said Frost.

They got a pair of jolts in short order. Five seconds after Hunt’s score, Montrechere blasted a shot just inside the pole to complete his hat trick. Then, a minute later, C Broni Zhlotkin took exception to a rough hit from Hunt and dropped the gloved with him at center ice. Although the donnybrook completed Hunt’s “Gordie Howe hat trick” (a goal, an assist, and a fight), it fired up both the Anchorage bench and the crowd.

Twenty seconds after the fight, LW Les Collins banged home a juicy rebound to pull the Igloos within one. Six and a half minutes later, C Nile Bernard went five-hole on KC goaltender Brooks Copeland and tied it up. Bernard jumped up against the boards in the corner as the fans banged the glass in delight.

Although the atmosphere in the arena remained near delirium for most of the third period, the Igloos couldn’t push the go-ahead goal across. Frost and Collins each hit the post, and Copeland made a tremendous sprawling stop with three minutes left in regulation to rob Montrechere of a fourth goal.

The game went to overtime, with both teams and the fans exhausted. “In OT, that was all adrenaline,” said Frost. “We had no energy left.” With a minute and a half left in the extra session, RW Nicklas Ericsson faked a pass to Frost in the slot and slid it up to the blue line, where D Ted Keefe fired a blast that hit the crossbar and went in for the game-winning goal.

Keefe’s goal delivered the Igloos their fourth straight win and their fifth in the last six games. It also moved Anchorage seven points clear of Saskatchewan and Seattle for second place; it’s their largest lead of the season. But Castor remains dissatisfied with his team’s performance. “We had no business winning this game,” the coach said. “We’ve looked a lot better this week, but we’re going to need to tighten it up on a night-to-night basis if we’re going to make the playoffs.”

Castor’s players were happier with the outcome. “Coming back from a three-goal [deficit] in a game is a game is impressive,” said Frost. “Doing it twice in one game? That doesn’t happen. We’re pretty awesome!”

The Anchorage Igloos entered the Vandenberg Cup Finals as heavy favorites. The “favorite” label can come with considerable pressure in the playoffs, as anything can happen in a short series. In Game 1, at least, the Igloos didn’t let the pressure get to them, as they scored three goals in the first period and cruised to a 5-1 win over the Hershey Bliss.

“If all the games are this easy, it’ll be a short series,” said Anchorage RW Nicklas Ericsson, who had a goal and two assists. “But we know they won’t all be this easy.”

The Bliss put themselves in trouble in the first period, committing four penalties. The Igloos took advantage, scoring a pair of power-play goals. Four minutes into the game, Hershey D Nikolai Kulkarov was whistled for hooking when he brought down Anchorage C Derek Humplik in order to prevent a breakaway. Igloos C Jake Frost buried a slapshot from the top of the faceoff circle to make it 1-0. Late in the period, Bliss C Henry Constantine flipped the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Before they could kill it off, D Joel Baldwin tried to draw a tripping call, but was called for embellishment. Igloos RW Remi Montrechere cashed in during the waning seconds of the period, putting a rebound home past a sprawled Brandon Colt. In between, LW Les Collins scored during 5-on-5 play, and the Igloos went to the locker room with a 3-0 edge, depsite being outshot 19-8. The crowd at Arctic Circle Arena razzed the visiting Bliss on their way into the locker room.

“We were a little shell-shocked,” said Bliss C Justin Valentine of the first 20 minutes. “We’d dominated long stretches of play, but look at the scoreboard and they were wiping the floor with us.”

In the second period, Baldwin tried to fire up his struggling team by starting a pair of fights. In mid-period, he responded to a rough check by RW Tony Citrone by throwing hands with him. Late in the period, he scrapped with Collins after the two traded jabs during a faceoff.

“I felt like we needed to shake things up,” said Baldwin. “And I thought a good fight or two might change the momentum.”

Baldwin’s fisticuffs failed to spark Hershey, however, as Anchorage LW Jerry Koons scored the only goal of the period, yet another power-play tally.

Bliss LW Noah Daniels salvaged some dignity for his team, scoring four and a half minutes into the third period to foil Anchorage netminder Ty Worthington‘s shutout bid. But Ericsson put one more home for the Igloos to restore their four-goal advantage, and that’s how the game ended.

Hershey coach Chip Barber was crestfallen after the game. “Not the way that we wanted to start this series,” Barber told reporters. “This loss was as bitter as biting into a chunk of backer’s chocolate. But it only counts as one loss, thank goodness.”

Barber highlighted a couple of areas for his team to improve on in Game 2. “Obviously, we’ve got to cut down on the penalties,” the Bliss coach said. “Against a team this good, you can’t give them extra chances. And we’ve got to find ways to get some more pucks past Worthington.” The Igloos goalie made 38 saves in the game.

“Man, this time of year is fun, but scary too. You know the old Road Runner cartoons where Wile E. Coyote runs off the edge of a cliff, only he doesn’t realize it until he looks down? That’s what the playoff race is like: just keep running and don’t look down.”

The expansion Seattle Sailors made a splash and landed some veteran talent to guide them in their inaugural campaign. The Sailors acquired C Cliff Derringer, RW “King George” Lane, and D Hylton Windham from the Hamilton Pistols in exchange for first-round and third-round picks and F Elmo Jacobson. In Derringer, the Sailors land a solid scorer (21 goals and 35 points last season) who is expected to anchor their top line. Lane, meanwhile, is a capable passer (23 assists in 2015) who may be placed on the top line to feed Derringer and top draft pick Vince Mango. Windham appeared in limited action for Hamilton last season, scoring 4 points in 22 games, but is best known for being the first native of the Bahamas to play professional hockey. The Pistols are rebuilding under new coach Keith Shields, and the picks (which were used to draft D Clayton “Crusher” Risch and LW Norris “Beaver” Young) will help position the team for the future. The 24-year-old Jacobson spent last season with Saskatchewan, for whom he scored 9 points.

The other expansion team, the Quebec Tigres, made several moves after the expansion draft. First, they dealt RW Kenny Patterson and D Teddy Morrison to the New York Night in exchange for LW Pascal Royal. The Tigres have made a point of acquiring as many Quebec natives as possible, and Royal certainly qualifies. He will also provide the Tigres with a dose of badly-needed offense, having put up 15 goals and 40 points in New York. Patterson is being reunited with his former club, as Quebec plucked him from New York in the expansion draft. The winger scored 13 goals and 37 points for the Night last year. Morrison was a gritty defender who spent last season with Washington, putting up 12 points in 56 games.

The Tigres also strengthened their blue line by acquiring Viktor Babykin, a rugged stay-home defenseman, from the Saskatchewan Shockers, along with F Alois Rodney in exchange for rookie D Brody “Bruiser” McCallan. Babykin is known as one of the SHL’s meanest players, a man who never hesitates to drop the gloves and was one of the league leaders in penalty minutes last year. His pugnacious personality also created some friction in the Shockers locker room, however. The 21-year-old McCallan, the Tigres’ third-round draft pick, spent last season in the Quebec junior league, where he put up 12 points. Rodney, who was the last player selected in the draft, put up 6 points in limited action in the Swiss league last season.

In their final deal, the Tigres picked up another left winger, Stellan Fisker, from the Hamilton Pistols. Fisker put up 17 goals and 30 points for Hamilton last season. The Pistols sent Fisker and the just-acquired Jacobson to Quebec in exchange for a pair of rookies, LW Magnus Gunnarson and the aforementionedRodney, and a second-round pick in next year’s draft. Gunnarson, who was selected in the second round by Quebec, scored 15 goals last season for Lake Erie State.

The Hershey Bliss and the Anchorage Igloos struck a major deal on draft night, with the Bliss sending G Riley Lattimore to the Igloos in exchange for RW Sven Danielsen. Lattimore began last season as Hershey’s starting goalie, but struggled and wound up losing playing time to backup Milo Stafford. Lattimore finished the season with a 12-18-1 record with a 3.70 GAA, as the Bliss stumbled to a disappointing third-place finish in the East. He became expendable after Hershey picked netminder Buzz Carson in the second round of the draft. Lattimore will serve as a backup in Anchorage, who lost their former second-string goalie, Ron Mason, to Seattle in the expansion draft. Danielsen, meanwhile, spent last season on the second line for the champion Igloos, netting 11 goals and 28 points. He lost his spot on the Anchorage depth chart to Remi Montrechere, as the Igloos found themselves with forward depth to spare.

In a minor swap of defenders, the Dakota Rapids shipped Jose Martinez and rookie Fyodor Agrozonov to the Hamilton Pistols for Pierre Chappelle. Chapelle was a solid two-way defenseman for the Pistols last season, putting up 10 points. Martinez was an offensive-minded defender who struggled somewhat in Dakota, posting 7 points in 52 games. Agrozonov is a 22-year-old who played the last two seasons in the KHL.

With one more game at home in the SHL Finals, the Washington Galaxy were eager to capture a victory and move to the brink of capturing the Vandy. They got what they wanted, snagging a 3-1 win and leaving the heavily favored Anchorage Igloos needing to claim back-to-back wins in order to avoid a stunning upset loss in the Finals.

“This is not the position we wanted to be in,” said Igloos C Jake Frost. “We established ourselves as the best team all season long, and for us to lose the Finals… that would be a real blow.”

Just as they did in game 4, the Galaxy struck first. When C Eddie Costello scored on a three-on-one a little more than four minutes into the game, the crowd at Constellation Center practically raised the roof with delight. “The place was really rocking,” said Washington RW Jefferson McNeely. “The fans were believing right from the start, and we were believing too.”

Igloos C Broni Zhlotkin dampened the crowd’s enthusiasm with less than two minutes left in the period, redirecting a blue-line shot by RW Remi Montrechere and beating Galaxy goaltender Roger Orion stick-side to even the score at 1.

“For us, getting it back even before the break was key,” said Montrechere. “We didn’t want them getting too confident. The momentum was shifting away from us, and we needed to snatch it back.”

In a repeat of Game 2, the 1-1 tie persisted through a scoreless second period, as both teams took turns making furious rushes to no effect. In the first half of the period, the Igloos dominated the action, stepping up the pace of action with their patented fast breaks and trying to overwhelm the depleted Washington skaters. Orion did a valiant job turning them aside, although on two separate occasions Anchorage rang shots off the post.

In the latter half of the period, Washington took its turn in the driver’s seat, scarcely letting the Igloos get the puck out of their own end and bombarding Worthington with shots. But the Anchorage netminder held firm, keeping the Galaxy from breaking the tie. The home fans remained excited, but their cheers took on a nervous edge.

“When [the Igloos] were trying to race past us and we were able to stop them, that got everybody fired up,” said Galaxy LW Casey Thurman. “But then we threw everything we had at them and we couldn’t get it done either. And we all felt like this was a must-win game for us. It was getting intense.”

The Galaxy got a much-needed break 2:47 into the third period. Although the referees had been calling a fairly loose game to that point, head linesman Scott Pritchard whistled Anchorage D Hans Mortensen for a controversial interference call, sending the Igloos bench into hysterics. Igloos coach Sam Castor remained miffed about the penalty even after the game.

“We got burned by inconsistent officiating,” said the Anchorage coach. “If they’d been calling it tight all game, fine. But they’d already made it clear they were going to let the teams play, at least up until that point. There were easily a half-dozen things [the Galaxy] did that were worse than what Hans did, with no call. All I ask for is consistency. If something’s not a penalty in the first, it shouldn’t be in the third.”

Castor and the Igloos only became more furious when Galaxy LW Todd Douglas beat Worthington top-shelf 32 seconds into the power play to put Washington ahead. “That one really burns,” said Castor. “It was a knife in the gut at the worst possible time.”

Less than three minutes later, an Anchorage defensive breakdown sprung Douglas on a breakaway; he fed C Drustan Zarkovich, who slid the puck under Worthington’s right pad for a 3-1 lead.

“You’ve really got to look in the mirror if Drustan beats you on a breakaway,” Galaxy coach Rodney Reagle quipped after the game. “He’s a great guy and a good player, but he’s not exactly a racehorse out there.”

After securing the two-goal edge, the Galaxy spent the rest of the game in a defensive mode. With Orion (30 saves) continuing to provide stout netminding, Washington preserved their win and took a 3-2 lead in the series.

“All we’ve got to do now is win one in Anchorage, and we’ve already done that,” said Thurman. “We’re ready for this.”

The Igloos headed home fueled by anger at the late call against Mortensen. “A lot of guys in here feel like the refs won this one, not the other team,” said Frost. “We’re not looking for the refs to decide this series. We want to take care of business ourselves.”

During a break in action during the second period, Wally came onto the ice to toss some T-shirts into the crowd. He unknowingly wandered a little too close to the Igloos bench, and C Jake Frost stuck out his stick and tripped the mascot, sending him down to the ice in a heap. “With his big giant head, he just sort of toppled over,” said one witness to the incident. Frost then pointed and said, “That’s for Petey, you bastard!”

Wally Wolf

While boos rained down from the crowd and Frost and his teammates whooped it up on the bench, the Gray Wolves fumed. “Blindsiding a guy like that on the ice isn’t right,” said D Frank Mudrick. “He could have blown out his ACL and ended his career on a move like that.”

Gray Wolves coach Martin Delorme walked to the end of his bench and began pointing and shouting at the Igloos. Anchorage coach Sam Castor responded in kind, and the crowd roared as the two coaches waved their arms and argued. “Honestly, I’m not really sure what [Delorme] was saying,” said Castor. “He might have been yelling in French. Don’t know. I was pointing out that his guy started it, and to give it a rest.”

During the first faceoff after play resumed, Mudrick skated up to Frost and demanded a fight. Frost skated away, and Igloos D Olaf Martinsson squared off with Mudrick instead. “I’m a lover, not a fighter,” said Frost.

In the third, Wally re-emerged with a large bandage wrapped around his head, as the fans gave him a standing ovation. Wally walked behind the Anchorage bench, withdrew a pair of water balloons he’d hidden under his shirt, and dropped them on the Igloos, soaking Frost and RW Remi Montrechere. The mascot ran off before the stunned Igloos could react.

“Good thing he didn’t hit me with those balloons,” said Castor. “I’d have chased him down and beat the hell out of him. This suit cost more than his whole wardrobe.”

The SHL fined Frost $500 and Wally $250, issuing a press release that stated, “Okay, you guys have had your fun. Now knock it off or we’re going to start handing out suspensions.” But neither side showed any indication of ceasing hostilities.

“This isn’t over,” said Gray Wolves C Hunter Bailes. “That polar bear better have a suit of armor ready for the next time we play them.” Replied Igloos D Moose Baker, “Petey’s going to be ready, and we’re going to be ready. If any of those guys so much as lays a hand on Petey’s fur, there’s going to be a line brawl on the spot. Mark my words.”

Frost had another suggestion: “I think the only way this can end is for Petey and Wally to settle this on the field of honor. [The Gray Wolves] can pick the time and place, and I’ll spring for Petey’s airfare.”